Have been 'away' from RJTE for a while and I just ensured I updated to the latest.

There's something very odd going on with the find and replace functionality.

When I select All open files, the Find and/or Replace buttons get disabled!

I'm also extremely confused by the output of this functionality. What do I have to do in order to only find then replace one instance of a string at a time, across multiple open files? List all items replaced doesn't do that. Display a result dialog doesn't sound like it will do that. Show preview window maybe? IMHO this should easily be the default. Or I should be able to set this as the default. Time and time again I've done global string replacements without verifying each one and something has gone wrong. It might be just me and my bad skills but it's the only method of find and replace that I trust.

I used to really enjoy the ability to search across all open files but even this feature seems awkward now.

Maybe it's something to do with my using SFTP as the only method for opening files? This has been seemingly the cause of problems not reported by others in the past.

If I select "From beginning" the Find and/or Replace buttons are enabled. But that's not very helpful compared to multi-file find replace.

Could anyone shed some light on what's going on here? The search replace dialog was going in a weird direction of evolution before I went 'away from RJTE' (was not developing for over half a year) but it at least still seemed to function ok.

Very confused. Would appreciate some help.

Last edited by inspector71 on 10 Sep 2019 05:34, edited 1 time in total.

That's strange indeed and I assume it's your settings, as this works for me as intended and "Find All" and "Replace All" buttons are disabled only if "Text to find" field is empty (or no project is open, while "Project files" have been chosen as a scope).

That's strange indeed and I assume it's your settings, as this works for me as intended and "Find All" and "Replace All" buttons are disabled only if "Text to find" field is empty (or no project is open, while "Project files" have been chosen as a scope).

Thanks for your input.

Text to find is filled in, along with Replace with.

Which tab are you on?

I'm starting to suspect it's an evolution thing. As the Search dialog has been changed over recent times, I suspect (most?) people gravitate to the "Find in Files" tab to search multiple files. However... there's actually an Search - All open files radio option under the Replace tab which is where I am experiencing this problem.

There's also a Search - All open files option in the Find tab which isn't working either

This is rather odd ... ly frustrating I had a look in the settings and could not find anything related.

Perhaps this is a regression related to the search bar that's been recently developed. Hmmm

OK, I think this is just broken and/or overlooked. Why? The search bar does not even have an (obvious?) option to Search - All open files. Guessing of course but perhaps the dialog search (non-bar) version has become out of site / out of mind in deference to the search bar? As the search bar does not include Search - All open files, maybe the bugs (if this is one!) have gone unreported?

Just a theory.

I had a look at Tools > Configure Tools (which opens "Options") under Editor, Search. Toggled all the combinations under "Find and replace should open" and there was no difference.

Boy I really wish this program was more open source. I can see so much potential in it but there also seems to be some obvious, probably quick tweaks that have not been fixed. Oh well. If only this bug/behaviour was not happening, I would go back to more or less loving this program again anyway ... even though the SFTP support (or the servers I use) can be a bit flakey.

OK, I think this is just broken and/or overlooked. Why? The search bar does not even have an (obvious?) option to Search - All open files. Guessing of course but perhaps the dialog search (non-bar) version has become out of site / out of mind in deference to the search bar? As the search bar does not include Search - All open files, maybe the bugs (if this is one!) have gone unreported?

I for one use modal Search/Replace/Goto window, but then again I use "Find In Files" tab exclusively to search more files.

OK, I think this is just broken and/or overlooked. Why? The search bar does not even have an (obvious?) option to Search - All open files. Guessing of course but perhaps the dialog search (non-bar) version has become out of site / out of mind in deference to the search bar? As the search bar does not include Search - All open files, maybe the bugs (if this is one!) have gone unreported?

I for one use modal Search/Replace/Goto window, but then again I use "Find In Files" tab exclusively to search more files.

Don't really think it should be a feature request. It seems like a bug to me. At the very least we have two instances of RJTE, yours and mine, seemingly behaving differently. That seems like a bug to me.

If it's not a bug, but intended the only logic I can think of that may explain this scenario is the developer of RJTE feels like nobody would want to Find or Replace one instance at a time. That is, once Search - All open files is selected, the developer thinks everyone will opt for "Find All" or "Replace All".

As I have mentioned though, global *All* replacing can be dangerous. So I prefer to progressively check each replacement until I'm confident nothing abnormal is being found for replacement.

Would be great to get some feedback from the developer. Suspect I need to report this in the usual bug thread though.

This link was posted yesterday on HN and I had a good chuckle reading it, so I thought others (especially non-Americans) could enjoyed them, too. And all I meant was "I absolutely expect you to" fill in a feature request

Don't really think it should be a feature request. It seems like a bug to me. At the very least we have two instances of RJTE, yours and mine, seemingly behaving differently. That seems like a bug to me.

I must have expressed myself too vaguely, I guess. My instance behaves exactly as yours, for what I can tell (I was on a different tab than you).

If it's not a bug, but intended the only logic I can think of that may explain this scenario is the developer of RJTE feels like nobody would want to Find or Replace one instance at a time. That is, once Search - All open files is selected, the developer thinks everyone will opt for "Find All" or "Replace All".

Or spare himself the hassle of implementing the feature, which might be quite cumbersome, I suppose (with regard to undo, for example) -- but that's just my (very uneducated) guess.

Also, I've never seen an editor allowing normal find/replace on all open documents. I'm not entirely sure how to implement it. For instance, should the replace prompt include a button to skip a document? You may have 50 files open and only (?) wish to search through 45 of them...

A clear description of how you imagine the feature to work would be helpful.

Also, I've never seen an editor allowing normal find/replace on all open documents.

Really? Wow. That does surprise me because ...

A) I could swear that RJTE did this in the not too distant past

B) UltraEdit absolutely does this ... admittedly it's payware though

Do you have any older versions available for download? I'd be interested in testing them because my memory is not great due to medications and other factors, unfortunately. However I am almost certain step-by-step find / replace was available in previous RJTE versions.

Thanks for your input here Rickard and your continued efforts with RJTE. Despite some limitations like this, which are a little frustrating but need to be kept in context, RJTE is a very good program that I feel is so very close to being a great program. None of that would be true if it were not for your tireless efforts. Software developers really do not get enough recognition.

Also, I've never seen an editor allowing normal find/replace on all open documents. I'm not entirely sure how to implement it. For instance, should the replace prompt include a button to skip a document? You may have 50 files open and only (?) wish to search through 45 of them...

A clear description of how you imagine the feature to work would be helpful.

It might be just me but I tend to work in unofficial groups of files. For example I might open an entire folder of similar CSS files and change a common property across all of them. Then I'd close those files.

I think it's all or nothing. If a user has files that are open that they do not want to search, they would either close them or perhaps refine their search terms to avoid those documents.

OTOH, if you were able to implement a "Skip file" button for this sort of functionality, that would be a real kick-arse differentiating feature for RJTE

I can go into more detail if needed, soonish.

Just checked Notepad++ and, to my surprise I must say, it doesn't offer this functionality. I think that's one reason I keep it around as a Notepad replacement, but for real text editing, I gravitated to RJTE.

Another chance for RJTE to better the 'competition' with multi-file, stepped find/replace